Roger Buttress

“I was surprised how much I could achieve with the team’s encouragement”

Patientsin north Manchester can now access a specialist cardiac rehabilitation programme right in the heart of their community.

The new service which has been commissioned by North Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and is provided by the Trust, is for patients who have had a cardiac event ranging from a myocardial infarction (heart attack), unstable angina, angioplasty and stenting, coronary artery bypass surgery and valvular surgery.

Based in the East Manchester Leisure Centre in Beswick, the community based programme of cardiac rehabilitation complements the existing hospital service which has been running since 1994.

Cardiac rehabilitation helps improve the health and well being of people who have heart problems. Rehab programmes include exercise training, education on keeping the heart healthy, appropriate use of medications and lifestyle management to help reduce the risk of further cardiac events.

The weekly class at the leisure centre can accommodate a maximum of ten people. Led by our cardiac nurse specialists Jane Whittaker and Gail Brough, and Stephen Bourne, exercise referral officer from the Physical Activity Referral Service (PARS), the patients are put through their paces for eight weeks, when they are medically ready to do so.

Roger Buttress from the Droylsden area has attended the course. He underwent angioplasty and stenting after being diagnosed with angina. He said: “I would recommend any patient who is given the chance to attend the cardiac rehabilitation scheme to give it a go. You may feel a bit anxious to start with but it will improve your fitness and start to rebuild your confidence like it has done for me. At first I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do the exercises, but then I was surprised at how much I could achieve with the team’s encouragement.”